If I ever have the money, I intend to publicize a few loans such as this true life loan: A 74 year old man with a 69 year old wife. Making a $974 monthly payment with $1,400 monthly retirement, the wife was washing dishes part time at a local middle school to put food on the table. Because they were forced to refinance their mortgage down thru the years, there was only a line of credit, according to the FHA HECM formula, of about $4,000–enough to paint part of the house, reconnect the pipeing to the commode (disconnected by a couple of idiots who had sold and installed a new washer and dryer in their basement) fix the bathroom utilities (the bathtub was
plugged, the wife vacumning water out of the tub following a bath) the kitchen sink was pugged, filled with dirty dishes–they were eating out of paper plates, and clean the interiors of the house, filled with huge amounts of clutter collected over a lifetime of living. The Husband was 24/7 in a chair because his
body was paralyzed on one half of his body–the result of being hit in the head by a claw hammer by a jealous boyfriend of a former girl friend upon his return from a year’s service in Viet Nam. When the man woke up from a coma, and could move about with one arm and one leg, he returned to work for a US Government Service,
climbing up and down ocean going ships with one arm and one leg for eighteen years intil he slipped and fell and was forced to retire. When I first contacted the man about an FHA HECM, he told me he thought from what he heard, the program was a Government rip off. I said no, please let me come to explain how I thought
it would help his family. After spending three initial hours with the man and his wife, and seeing the terrible conditions in which good people were living, I shook his hand and put my arm around his wife and said: “We all get depressed in life. you folks need help. You are embarassed about how you are living and don’t want friends to know it. But, folks, let’s face it–you need help. This FHA HECM program will provide the money and STOP your house payment.”
It took me about a month to clear the housing issues.
The last time I saw the man he grabbed my hand and squeezed it and said,”Now Nelson, we can use our house payment money to live on. We don’t have to worry about whether we will have enough to eat anymore. Man, you have been a lifesaver.” Damn, did that make all the work worthwhile. However, back at the mortgage compaqny I had a young (in the 30′s) fool tell
me “Nelson, you are wasting your time doing those types of loans. Takes too much time and sometimes the loans don’t go thru.” I said, “If you in this business just for the money, you should get out of it. No, on second thought, you shoiuld be run out of it.” I’m certain that many other FHA HECM Loan Officers have just such stories to tell; I am NOT alone. Those helping Seniors should be praised, not condemned